Apologies for the radio silence on the Violent World of Parker blog, but I’ve been a bit distracted with some rather involved blogging over on my other, er, blog, Existential Ennui. Fear not: my series on the science fiction magazine stories of Donald E. Westlake will resume shortly, and after that’s finished I’ll have plenty more Westlake/Stark stuff to come, with lots of Westlake Scores and reviews and the like. But if you’ve a penchant for spy fiction as well as crime fiction, I thought I’d take the opportunity to point you in the direction of the series of posts I’m currently running on Existential Ennui, which are largely on the brilliant “Karla Trilogy” of novels by John le Carré, starring master spy George Smiley. There’s a new movie version of the first of those, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, due this week, so I’ve been revisiting each of the novels in turn. My latest review, of the third book, Smiley’s People, and its BBC TV adaptation, can be found here, while the posts on Tinker, Tailor… and the middle part of the trilogy, The Honourable Schoolboy, can be found here and here.

Obviously there’s no real link between Westlake and le Carré (although Westlake did write the occasional spy novel), but I’m quite pleased with the Smiley’s People post in particular, so do us a favour and go have a read. And I’ll be back before too long with some more Westlake SF.

Nick,
Nice trilogy of posts re:Smiley. I confess to having not read the novels, but I have seen the TV adaptations via DVD. I did indeed have to return to previous parts while watching TTSS for clarification of people, places and situations and wonder how all that detail will translate to a big screen version given probably less than half the time. That series made me an Alec Guiness fan to the point I had to track down all the early films of his I could. Smiley’s People made me appreciate him even more. I think it is the better of the 2 series, but I wouldn’t have liked it as much had I not seen TTSS. I look forward to your review of the new movie and more of the posts at your blog. I will get around to reading the novels at some point, but too many other things are in the queue before that happens. Thanks for the head’s up and really enjoying having you here at Parker Center!!

And thank you for the kind words, sir. Nice to know my ill-reasoned musings aren’t proving too annoying. I’ve slightly updated that older post on Tinker, Tailor – here – with a bit of info about radio DJ Terry Wogan, but yeah, I’d agree that Smiley’s People is the better of the two TV adaptations, although in the second part of the le Carre interview I link to in that added bit, I get the impression le Carre was fonder of the Tinker, Tailor TV series, despite the fact he didn’t write it. I’ll be seeing the new Tinker, Tailor movie tomorrow evening, so I should have a review of it up over the weekend. I’d definitely recommend reading the novels though, especially Tinker, Tailor: it’s a remarkable work of fiction.

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I'll have more at the site when I get a chance to write it, but this is sad news. Brian Garfield was not only a hell of a writer, but a really nice guy.
https://t.co/ZtFwM1Q9dB

Ralph Dennis' Hardman series begins coming back in print today from Brash Books. Read about Dennis here, including his previously unpublished novel that "...makes Parker look like a sissy." I haven't read Dennis' work yet, but lots of friends are fans. https://t.co/ItJvWdKeje